THINGS THAT MAKE
FAITH DECREASE
Praise be to Allaah.
The things that make faith decrease
are as follows:
1. Ignorance of the names and attributes of Allaah makes a
decrease in faith inevitable, because if a man is lacking in knowledge of the
names and attributes of Allaah, he will be lacking in faith.
2. Neglecting
to think about the signs of Allaah in the universe and the signs of sharee’ah
(i.e., verses of the Qur’aan and miracles of the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him), etc.). This causes a decrease in faith or at the very least
it causes it to stagnate and not grow.
3. Committing sins, because sin has a
profound effect on the heart and on faith. Hence the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The adulterer at the time when he is
committing adultery is not a believer.”
4. Neglecting to do acts of worship,
because neglecting to do acts of worship causes a decrease in faith. But if the
act of worship is obligatory and a person neglects it with no excuse, then he is
to be blamed and deserves punishment. If the act of worship is not obligatory,
or it is obligatory but a person does not do it for a valid reason, then he is
lacking but is not to be blamed. Hence the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) described women as lacking in reason and in religion, and he
explained their lacking in religion as being because of the fact that when they
menstruate, they do not pray or fast. But they are not to be blamed for not
praying or fasting during their menstruation; rather they are commanded not to
do these things at that time. But because they miss out on doing some of the
things that men do, they are regarded as lacking in this regard
Home